Yemeni editor, long harassed, is charged again

New York, April 15, 2010—The Committee to Protect
Journalists calls on Yemeni authorities to drop new charges brought against Muhammad
al-Maqaleh, editor of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party's news Web site Aleshteraki,
in connection with a 2005 article.

On Saturday, the Press and Publications Court summoned al-Maqaleh
to appear before it on April 18 on charges of “insulting the president,” according to local news
reports. Al-Maqaleh had criticized President Ali Abdallah Saleh in 2005 for running in the
2006 election after promising not to seek re-election. If convicted, al-Maqaleh
risks up to two years in prison, his lawyer Hael Salam told CPJ.

“Prosecuting my client for an article he wrote over four
years ago is simply farcical,” Salam told CPJ. “My client is a journalist and
he has done nothing but analyze and report on the country's political events.”

Al-Maqaleh, a
longtime critic of the Yemeni government, has faced severe harassment and
detention at the hands of authorities in the past.

He was seized
by unidentified assailants in September 2009 only to resurface in official government
custody in February 2010. He said he was tortured while in custody, according
to news accounts. Al-Maqaleh was
finally charged with supporting northern Huthirebels in connection with an article criticizing military airstrikes
that killed 87 people and injured more than 100 in the northwestern Saada
region. He was released
on March 25 for “health and humanitarian reasons,” at which point the charges
were also dropped.

“This charge is the latest in a series of accusations against
Muhammad al-Maqaleh, which together constitute a pattern of judicial harassment,”
said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Coordinator, Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “We
call on the authorities to drop this indictment and end its campaign to silence
this critical journalist.”